


of the stars

by 21tales



Series: haikyuu blank period [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, fukurodani wins the nationals, haikyuu manga spoilers, i guess, i simply wrote akaashi the way he is canon i swear, like they deserve, this is platonic bokuaka but i apologise if this comes across as ... not-platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 11:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22495210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/21tales/pseuds/21tales
Summary: in which fukurodani wins the spring interhigh.[ haikyuu manga spoilers ]
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji & Fukuroudani Volleyball Club
Series: haikyuu blank period [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617475
Comments: 11
Kudos: 41





	of the stars

**Author's Note:**

> furudate: we dont know if fukurodani won the nationals. it's all ambiguous.
> 
> me, pointing to this fic: oh yeah???? what is this then????

The ball drops on the other side of the court. 

Following the echo of the sound of the bouncing ball, there is a moment of silence as the final point registers in everyone’s mind. Finally, the whistle blows and the referee points a hand to Fukurodani's side of the court.

Chaos and cheers erupt in the stadium. The crowd has gone wild. Everything and everyone around Akaashi is loud for a long moment and while he tries to process everything around him, everything starts growing quiet, but maybe that's just him. The cheers have all merged into one long echoing sound, accompanied only by the sound of Akaashi’s thumping heart. His legs give in and he allows his body to drop to the ground as he tries to take it all in.

Five extremely long and tiring sets, and now it’s ended? He hoped so. They won, didn't they?

His exhausted brain is still trying to distinguish between the concept of “win” and “loss.” He had stopped keeping track of the score quite some time ago, giving his all into making sure the ball somehow landed in the opponent’s court, not knowing how many times it fell on theirs and now all that he knew was that the seemingly endless torture was over. He’s relieved that at least it's over. He craves food. A hot shower. A bed. His home. Sleep. Lots of hours of sleep. 

_ Oxygen. _ His brain needs oxygen. He needs to think and make sense of what’s going on. He stares into the bright ceiling, his thoughts drowning out all the echoes. The lights are just white blobs, people moving around him are just faint shadows.

As he catches up on his breath, a larger shadow slowly covers his view of the white blobs. Someone is calling out to him. The shadow takes the shape of a person.Spiky hair, big build, an even bigger smile.

“A...shi!  _ Akaashi!! _ You alive?”

Akaashi is slowly brought back to reality. The cheers are back and louder than ever. Akaashi is back on the court. His teammates are gathered about him, as exhausted as he is, if not more. The oxygen in his brain makes everything fall into place. 

The last set. The ball dropped in the other court. The loud whistle. The fact that his body subconsciously gave in to gravity at the end of it all.

It’s over. It really is over.

Bokuto is grinning above him. “We won it all, Akaashi!”

Akaashi is smiling, too. _Way to be obvious._ “Yes, Bokuto-san. We did.”

The captain lends out a hand to the setter and the latter gets back on his feet. As soon as he does, the entire team huddles around him, letting out a loud cheer. Akaashi cries out in relief (and in pain; his legs are mostly numb by now) and some tears are shed, a few sobs heard. Some jabs, some nudges, and even more tears. Everyone in the audience is calling out to them, the loudest being Fukurodani’s cheer squad. 

Amidst it all, the aura around their ace is the brightest and it’s hard not to be drawn into his excitement as well. He’s tired, but that doesn’t stop him from being his usual self. He carries himself with great enthusiasm towards the net, shaking hands with the opponents and commenting on their impressive skills while also complaining about how frustratingly tenacious they were (Akaashi silently agrees; couldn’t they have let the ball drop earlier?).

_ We’re gonna win them all.  _

And they did. It’s hard to believe, but they really did. Bokuto brought his words to life. 

_ We all did,  _ the little Bokuto in Akaashi’s head protests. He huffs. Little Bokuto-san is correct. Every spike, every receive, every set, every toss, every play, every game; everything brought them to this moment. Focussing on the next point, one by one, they made the impossible happen. 

He watches as Bokuto enthusiastically high-fives everyone on the bench. It is undeniable that in every point, there was the great support and comfort of knowing that the ace was there. The great confidence with which Akaashi set to Bokuto, and the confidence with which the ace jumped, attacked, and defended. Akaashi didn’t know if it was even possible for him to get through this amount of mental pressure without the captain. He was sure that everyone else in the team felt the same.

_ But I couldn’t have done it without the team,  _ says Little Bokuto and Akaashi smiles again. The real Bokuto, however, is raising his hands at Akaashi for his high five. Akaashi feels heat rush to his face, excitement bubbling within him as he returns the gesture and their hands connect loudly for a split second.

The team lines up in front of their cheer squad and bows, Bokuto letting out a loud yell of thanks followed by the rest of the team doing the same. 

It's all very overwhelming and still hard to believe, and the entire time, Akaashi has to take a second look at his teammates, especially Bokuto, to convince himself that this really happened. The awards ceremony, the interviews, the pictures, and Akaashi is in a daze throughout it all. 

He now understands what Bokuto was talking about the other night. There's a nagging emotion in the back of his head — _ it's really over, this was the last time he got to play with Bokuto and the third years _ — but he pushes it away. 

Apparently, the captain is going to live till he's hundred-and-thirty, so Akaashi has a lot more of Bokuto Kotarou to deal with anyway. 

For now, he just wants to go home. 

  
  
  
  


The sun is almost down by the time they're done with everything. It's getting darker and the air is getting colder as the team walks back to their bus headed to school. Akaashi is eyeing the trophy Kaori is carrying in front of him, arguing in his head the tangibility of the giant, golden cup and whether it was real or not.

“I know I said I wish I got to play with you a lot more,” Bokuto says as they’re walking out the stadium, breaking the scattered chatters among the club members. “But I’m really grateful for each game that I got to play with you. It was really fun!”

A solemn silence dawns upon the team, everybody processing their captain’s words. Bokuto said the unspoken, something they have been avoiding until now.  _ Way to kill the mood, Bokuto-san.  _

Akaashi starts feeling something heavy in his throat when suddenly Konoha jumps and slaps the owl-headed ace in the back and Sarukui simultaneously kneeshim, taking everyone by surprise. 

“Idiot! You of all people are not allowed to make me cry!” Konoha yells.

“Cry?” Bokuto stares at him, bewildered, genuinely wondering what went wrong. “Why would I make you cry? We won!”

“You’ve given us more trouble than anyone else on the team!” Sarukui says. “ _ You _ cry! Ask for our forgiveness!”

Bokuto is still very confused and concerned, looking around at all the club members, who are torn between feeling frustration at their captain or feeling whatever emotion Bokuto's words were forcing them to feel.

“Wait, why am I supposed to be crying?! Why are we crying? Akaashi!”

  
  
  
  
  


Bokuto is the first to fall asleep during the ride back to school. It's in these very rare moments that Akaashi gets to see his ridiculously energetic self give in to exhaustion. Akaashi smiles to himself. Bokuto deserves a long, long rest after everything he's done.

The second-year setter is undeniably sad that the time he got to spend with Bokuto in his team is coming to an end, but there's so much more to this sadness. There's gratitude as well. 

These two years have opened Akaashi's eyes to so many things, to so many opportunities. And in the center of every surreal experience was Bokuto Kotarou. Uptil now, Akaashi has pursued everything hidden within the brightness of the star he chased and in doing so, he didn't even realise how he's grown himself. 

He's thankful for everything; the captain especially. 

Akaashi realises that in all this time playing beside a star, he’s finally gained a shine of his own.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> what? you're telling me not everyone has a tiny bokuto living in their head to counter their arguments? just me and akaashi? okay.
> 
> [ find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/tsukkisachi) and [tumblr](https://21tailsofwoe.tumblr.com/) !!! ]


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